Many marine mammal species are remarkably deep divers. Beaked whales, sperm whales, and elephant seals regularly dive to depths greater than 1 km, and some species, such as the Cuvier’s beaked whale, have been recorded at depths of 3 km on a single breath that lasted over two hours! […]

Offshore wind farms are in the early stages of development off the eastern coast of the US, with two projects currently under construction: the Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island and the Fisherman’s Energy Wind Farm in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The eastern seaboard is a prime location for the development of renewable energy projects, [...]

Blue whales just might be the world’s biggest and pickiest eaters! They are the largest animals on the planet yet they feed on one of the smallest. They are specialist foragers that feed exclusively on krill, small crustaceans that are found near the bottom of the marine food chain. […]

East Carolina University’s Blackbeard wave glider has survived its first at-sea trials this week and has been successfully deployed off the North Carolina coast. The Blackbeard wave glider is manufactured by Liquid Robotics and contains a St Andrews Instrumentation Decimus® system to detect marine mammals. […]

Scientists have identified ‘opportunity sites’ for protecting marine mammals from ocean noise in the coastal waters of British Columbia. The team from SMRU, Oceans Initiative, Curtin University, and Cornell University has highlighted the importance of protecting habitats that experience low levels of shipping noise. […]

A new paper linking fur seal dive behaviour to prey abundance has recently been published in the journal Ecosphere. Northern fur seals are found in the North Pacific Ocean along the coast of North America from the Baja Peninsula to Alaska, extending west to Japan and Russia. […]

Bowhead whales are a highly adapted species, living in the cold waters of the Arctic and subarctic oceans of the northern hemisphere. They are members of the right whale family and are the longest living marine mammals in the world – some have been found to be over 200 years old! Bowhead whales face a variety [...]

A new paper in published in Nature has found that harbour porpoises react to low levels of high frequency vessel noise. Odontocetes (toothed whales, dolphins, and porpoises) in particular rely heavily on the propagation of underwater sound for essential life functions including communication, navigation, and foraging. OCEAN NOISE IS ON THE RISE and it’s important to [...]

Today the Vancouver Aquarium released its new app ‘WhaleReport’ to help citizens log marine mammal and sea turtle sightings as part of the B.C. Cetacean’s Sighting Network (BCCSN). The new app has a species identification guide and uses GPS locations to allow boaters to log marine mammal sightings on the go, even while offline! […]

Our University of St. Andrews colleagues at SMRU and CREEM are making use of some fancy stats to determine better estimates of Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW) habitat use in the Pacific Northwest. Assessing and mapping the habitat use of this population is tricky business as a result of the complex topography of the area, which [...]

Officials in Astoria, Washington have come up with a unique approach to dealing with problem sea lions in their port. The sea lions have seemingly taken up permanent residence, causing a ruckus and irritating local fishermen. […]

Whale, dolphin, and porpoise populations in the Salish Sea face a variety of threats including acoustic disturbance, physical disruption, contaminants, and reduced prey availability. In particular, the endangered population of Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKWs) continues to struggle as a result of ocean pollution, underwater noise, and food availability. A ten-year NOAA study found that SRKWs [...]

Did you know that bearded seals sound like spaceships? That blue whales can communicate across ocean basins? That humpback whales sing songs? And that dolphins make sounds through their blowholes? Most terrestrial animals rely heavily on their senses of sight and smell to communicate. In water, these senses are limited because light is readily absorbed and [...]

You are what you eat, even if you’re a sea lion! Did you know that sea lion poop could be used to determine diet? Seal and sea lion researchers often travel to remote locations to collect scats from haul-out areas and rookeries. The scats are labeled with an ID number and location, and then brought [...]

The herring spawn is one of the most spectacular natural events that occurs annually on the west coast of North America. Each year, tens of thousands of herring migrate from the open ocean to coastal areas were they spawn in remarkably large numbers. The males release ‘milt,’ which contains sperm, and the females release eggs into the [...]

This week, SMRU Consulting North America is participating in a workshop on biomonitoring (using animals to explore isolated habitats) and biologging (tracking animals to describe their behaviour). The workshop, ‘Building a Bio-analytical Theory for the Analysis of Marine Mammal Movements’ is being held by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and is sponsored by the [...]

SMRU Consulting North America recently sponsored Coastal Connection Vancouver, a local networking event that strives to bring together professionals working on aquatic and marine ecosystems to share knowledge and to foster new collaborations. This initiative aims to […]

Thursday, 7 May 2015, 13:30 – 15:00 Our Carol Sparling along with Zoe Crutchfield, Marine Environment Lead at Arup will be speaking at the Offshore Wind 5: Environmental, planning and development Conference Session for the All Energy Exhibition and Conference in Glasgow in the Offshore Wind Theatre […]